Lean, second-skin stretch-jersey booties have become a thing, even though they’re not waterproof, and we’re now faced with the issue of a VPS (visible sock line) beneath our sock boots.
In 2016, the consciously termed 'athleisure' movement peaked, but the mind-set which first inspired every woman and her dog to trim the excess fat off our day-to-day footwear stuck. High tech, high fashion sportswear (neoprene trainers, in particular) has become the backbone of our wardrobes in recent years, newly incorporated into the working week and for dressier after-dark occasions.
There's no reversing the effect of mass sportswear adoption: Post-athleisure, our wardrobes demand streamlined functionality, plus sophistication (the missing ingredient in the athleisure equation). It was only a matter of time before someone (Demna Gvasalia) came up with the eveningwear solution for our sporting-cum-sophisticated needs. Balenciaga’s ‘Knife bootie’ is the most elevated take on leisure footwear yet. On the catwalk it read as the adult edit of the conceptual Vetements cigarette-lighter-heel sock boots. Dior and Céline have both channelled the spray-on leather bootie in recent years, but it is the idiosyncratic legging-style stretch which has launched an era-defining design classic that's continuing to inspire a wave of copycat styles.
We haven’t yet reached peak sock boot, because of how they feel as much as how they look. They’re light as air on the foot, and easy to stash in a handbag. They’re also a key ingredient to dressing 2017's silhouette – ballooning volume up top, body-con on the bottom. A friend of mine recently got married wearing only Balenciaga’s Knife booties with just a large starched white men’s shirt. I mentally pinned the look, thinking there was no better way right now to exhibit both a high-summer tan and the brave confidence that Gen Y makes look so easy. Easy as slipping on a zip-free bootie.
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